I choose to start with a disclaimer that this is not a commentary on the appropriateness of animal sacrifice. This debate scares me, because of the tendency of forming arguments based on half baked understanding of genesis of religious beliefs. Animal sacrifice (‘Bali’) is made in a lot of Hindu shrines, specially dedicated to Shakti…
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Continue Reading“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet”, argued Shakespeare’s Juliet with her Romeo. I invoke Juliet not in my bid to defend young love but to put into context what has been going in my mind since I came across this recipe. I…
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Continue ReadingWhy should I call an illish – the hilsa? I wouldn’t, I am a Bong. Why should I not romance it long past it’s prime season for eating? I wouldn’t, I am a Bong. I recently read a long scientific article about the reasons behind the unique taste of illish. The author mentioned a lot…
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Continue ReadingSummers and I seem to have come to an impasse this year – it refuses to let me go and I refuse to let go off my dislike for it! The saving grace is that it is still occasion for indulging in biulier daal (urad daal) – aloo posto, tok daal and doi maachh. Though…
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Continue ReadingThere is practically nothing called pakoda/pakodi in Bengali cooking but Bengalis must be one of the largest consumers of fried items to be had as snacks or as part of a meal. So what are these known as? These are the bhaja, bora and ‘ni/ji/ri’ of our world! Before all my Bengali friends start raking…